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Friday, 26 July 2013

Instagram ads when the right time comes: Zuckerberg

Even as Facebook’s smashing second quarter results are out, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that there are monetisation plans in store for its acquisition Instagram. While it could be possible that advertisements will eventually come to the image-sharing application, it will be a long time before you see them on your phones.

During the quarterly earnings call yesterday, Zuckerberg said, “Kevin [Systrom] has always been clear that we’re building Instagram to be a business. We expect over time to generate a lot of profit from it, and that will probably be through advertising.” The CEO added that the focus for Facebook is currently on increasing Instagram’s footprint and growing it as a product.

Facebook has successfully pulled off the online advertising module and has even shifted the success story over to its mobile department. It would well want to stick to a tried-and-tested advertising module when it comes to monetising Instagram as well.

The question now is how Facebook intends to introduce it into Instagram’s ecosystem. The service is essentially mobile-based and has apps in both the iOS App Store and Android’s Google Play Store. While it was possible to insert advertisements with call-to-actions such as “Like” or even “comment”, the lack of white-space on the apps will force Facebook to improvise.

The social media giant could want to experiment with having sponsored stories and images show up on your Instagram feed occasionally, like it does on Facebook too. Brands and companies already have a big presence on Instagram, including the likes of Starbucks, Redbull and National Geographic. These big brands as well as smaller businesses would want to pay in order to create a buzz on Instagram. It’s time to hit the black-board and find a way to monetise the service, Facebook!